


In The Soul World

by theonewhereshewrites



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Sad Peter Parker, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, don't touch me i'm emotional, i'm not gonna tag every avenger bc there's too many, in the soul stone, oops I made myself cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 07:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16403591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewhereshewrites/pseuds/theonewhereshewrites
Summary: The last thing he remembered, was seeing Tony Stark’s face, muttering the words, I’m sorry, and then, for a minute, there was nothing. For a brief moment, he'd wondered if he'd died. For a brief moment, he'd wondered if this was it.But then, his body got an odd sort of tingly feeling all over, and seconds later, all he saw was orange.In which Peter Parker enters the soul world, and is presented with a choice. Join his parents and his uncle in the afterlife, or remain in the soul world and hope that somehow the people still alive could find a way to bring them back.





	In The Soul World

**Author's Note:**

> So I was feeling super angsty, and I'm in a lull waiting for another Marvel movie until March (seriously that is far too long of a gap), and somehow, this happened. 
> 
> I apologize.

The last thing he remembered, was seeing Tony Stark’s face, muttering the words, _I’m sorry_ , and then, for a minute, there was nothing. _Had he died? Was this what happened after you died? You just sat in a dark, endless, void for the rest of eternity?_ For a brief moment, he wondered if this was what Uncle Ben had seen after the mugger had run off. He’d wondered if this was really all there was now. _Wasn’t your life supposed to flash before your eyes when you died? Weren’t you supposed to see stills and images of all of the memories you’d lived? Why was it that he saw nothing but black?_

But then, his body got an odd sort of tingly feeling all over, and seconds later, all he saw was orange. It wasn’t a room of orange, or a field of orange, nor did it even feel like he were anywhere at all. It was just miles and miles of orange. There was no beginning or end, nor was there any sort of monument on the horizon that even indicated distance. The only thing he could differentiate between what would be ground, and what would be sky, was that the ground seemed to be covered in water, but like everything else, it was also orange. It was as if he were simultaneously no where, and somewhere at the same time, and that all there was, was orange.

The echoing sound of footsteps could be heard behind him, and swivelling on his heel, in the far distance, Peter could see a man, standing under some sort of archway. Closing the gap between him and the man, Peter apprehensively made his way across the water-like ground, and stopped when he reached the archway.

There, between two stone pillars, was a middle-aged man. He had light brown hair, and warm eyes, the same eyes Peter had, and a warm smile on his face. It was a man Peter hadn’t seen since he was fourteen years old, and the last time he’d seen him, he’d been laying in the street in an alleyway, with a bullet wound in his side. But the man that stood before him, had no such wound, and the cuts on his face he’d gotten when he’d fell to the ground, were not there.

“U—Uncle Ben?” Peter called to the man, joining him where he stood under the archway.

“Yes, and no,” the man replied, a warm sort of smile on his face as he looked down at Peter. “I both am, and am not your uncle.”

“Am—am I dead?” Peter asked, his stomach tying up in knots at the thought.

“Again, yes, and no,” he was told, as the man that looked like Peter’s uncle looked out at all of the orange. “Right now, you’re both alive, and dead.”

“Where are we?” Peter asked, voice wavering as he looked from the man beside him, and the world that surrounded him.

“Right now, we’re in the soul world.” Not-Uncle-Ben explained. “It’s a sort of in between place, a meeting point, between the two worlds, if you will.” The man paused, taking a deep breath as he glanced around him. “On one side, is the land of the living, and on the other, is the land of the dead.”

“What does that mean?”

“Everyone dies eventually, Peter. Whether it’s a husband and a wife in a plane crash, or an uncle by the means of a gun.” Peter glanced up at the man, his heart in his throat. “Some people die too soon, some people live far too long, but everyone eventually, dies. To try and avoid this is ludicrous. To try and control this, is foolish. Everyone has a time, and eventually, everyone must go. To try and control when that occurs, is nothing but a selfish attempt to postpone the inevitable. When we go, there’s a moment, a brief intermission, where we’re neither alive, nor dead. We’re in the in between. That’s where you are now, Peter.”

“I am dying, though?” Peter asked, unsure as to what any of this meant.

“Yes, and also no,” Peter was given one more vague answer. “Every person, every being, every spirit in both your world and every other world, must pass through here before they die. When they do, they are presented with a soul, someone from their past, someone that has already moved on to the other side. This person acts as a guide. That’s why I’m here, Peter.”

“So, you’re not my uncle?”

“I am an extension of your uncle. I look like your uncle, I sound like your uncle, and I have the memories of your uncle. But no, not really, I’m not your uncle.”

Peter was now feeling quite nauseous. Partially because he didn’t really understand what was going on, and he wasn’t really sure where he was. But mainly because he was now standing next to the man that basically raised him, and yet, it wasn’t him at all.

“I’m here to present you with a choice, Peter,” the man started up again, his arm on Peter’s shoulder. “You can move on to the other side, and you can join your family,” the man paused, gesturing to his left.

Through the left side of the archway was his actual Uncle Ben, standing beside a man and a woman that Peter vaguely recognized from photographs. The woman, had the same quirky smile that he did, and the man had his eyes, the same ones that Uncle Ben also had. Their faces flashed through his mind for a moment, as if from very distant memories, and he was affronted with the realization that he was looking at his parents. Behind them, was a house that Peter recognized from photographs from when he was a child. It was the house he’d grown up in.

“Or you can choose to remain here in the soul world, with everyone else that chooses to do the same,” Peter was told, and the man gestured to the other side of the archway.

There, clustered together in a group, still surrounded by orange, were several other people that Peter recognized. Peter Quill, who he’d met on Titan, stood beside the bug lady they’d been fighting with, and beside her, was a man Peter recognized as Bucky Barnes. Next to him, stood Sam Wilson, and off in the distance, walking towards the group was Stephen Strange, no time stone around his neck.

“You’re saying I get to choose whether I live or die?” Peter questioned, eyebrows raised, stomach in knots.

“Yes, and no,” the man told Peter once again. “You may choose to die right now, and join your uncle and your parents on the other side, if you wish. Otherwise, you may choose to remain in the in between. If you choose to remain here, it does not necessarily mean you will be able to cross back over to the land of the living. It simply means that you will not be dead, and that if those that remain in the land of the living, are able to find a way to bring you back, you may return.”

“What happens if they can’t find a way to bring us back?” Peter asked, gulping loudly in fear.

“Then you will remain in the soul world forever,” Peter was told, and he felt his heart constrict in his chest. “Do not misunderstand my words, Peter. I want to make myself perfectly clear. You will only be able to make this choice once. If you choose to cross over to the land of the dead, you will not be able to return to the land of the living. Not now, not if those that remain on earth find a way to reverse the events of today, not ever. But if you choose to remain here, in the in between, you could be stuck in the soul world forever. Once you choose to stay in the soul world, you do not get to leave the it unless you are returning to the land of the living. This means that if those on earth never find a way to bring you back, you will never see your uncle and parents again.”

Peter gulped, and he felt the familiar feeling of a lump forming in his throat. On one side of the archway, were his parents, laughing and smiling with his uncle just as he had always dreamed they would be. He’d always thought about the what ifs, and the could-have-been’s, if his parents had never gotten on that plane. This was his chance to finally be with them, to finally be their son, to finally be ordinary. But on the other side, was an entire group of people that still had hope. It was an entire team of heroes, that all still believed that there was a way for them to win this battle. People that still had a life to live.

As he looked from his family, and then looked to his fellow teammates, he thought about the people that were still alive on earth. He thought about Aunt May, and how entirely alone she must be right now. He thought about Ned, and MJ, and how terrified they must be. He wondered who had lost people, and who didn’t know what was going on. He thought about Tony, sitting on Titan, blaming himself for what had happened today. It was because of this, that he decided what he was going to do. It was because of this, that he took one last look at his family, wiped a tear from his cheek, and stepped through the right side of the archway to join the group of heroes.

He had to fight, he knew he did. If not for himself, and if not for everyone who believed in him, then for Aunt May. He could picture her going back to their apartment, and sitting at the dinner table, staring at Peter’s usual seat in sadness. He could imagine her passing Peter’s bedroom door on the way to her own, and stopping in the doorway, staring at all of his belongings and beginning to cry. He could imagine every painful expression on May’s face as she lived in an apartment alone that he was meant to be living in too. He had to fight, he had to believe, and he had to trust that the people that remained on earth, believed in themselves too.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always welcome, and please if anyone feels the need to scream into a large void about the mess that is their emotions in regards to the MCU at this point, please feel free to hit me up over on tumblr. 
> 
> @lokipreservationsociety


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